So for their breaking their covenant and disbelieving in the signs of God and slaying the prophets wrongfully and for their saying “Our hearts are covered up”-nay but God sealed them for their disbelief; so they do not believe except for a few. Its meaning is: Because they committed these prohibited acts li-irtikābihim hādhihi al-manāhī and because they were marked by acts that deserve punishment wa-li-ittiṣāfihim bi-hādhihi al-majāzī We caused them to alight at the dwellings of disgrace aḥlalnāhum manāzila al-hawān and sent down upon them punishments of all kinds wa-anzalnā bihim min al-ʿuqūbati funūna al-alwān. It is said that the misfortune of their oppositional acts affected them cumulatively. One of the consequences of acting disobediently is being left to commit even more prohibited acts. By violating the covenant and not repenting they were pulled toward disbelief in [God's] signs. Then because of the misfortune of this disbelief they were left to themselves until they slew the prophets عليه السلام wrongfully. Then because of the misfortune of [these ever more shameful acts] they had the audacity to claim a keen ability to comprehend saying “Our hearts are the vessels for all kinds of knowledge.” God replied to them “but God sealed them for their dis- belief.” He hid the place of deeper knowledge ʿirfān from them and they wandered about in their errors.
